BOULDER — Washington State enters Saturday’s home game against Colorado averaging only two points per game more than the Buffaloes (21.7 to 19.7), and the average yards of total offense generated by the football teams is comparable.

But that doesn’t make the Cougars’ spread offense any less frightening, Colorado coaches and players said — not with offensive mastermind Mike Leach calling the plays.

“He’s awesome. The guy is an offensive genius,” Brown said of the first-year Cougars coach. “The level that he competed in the Big 12 South, year in and year out, competing against Texas and Oklahoma and Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, that’s staggering. You stand up and salute that.”

“He did it his way, throwing the ball around and causing defensive coordinators a lot of sleepless nights,” Brown added. “It’s a tough go against Mike Leach.”

Leach inherited an offensive line that has been slow to adjust to the wide splits. But quarterbacks Jeff Tuel (who is coming off a knee injury) and Connor Halliday have strong arms, and the Cougars’ receiver corps led by senior Marquess Wilson (6-foot-4, 185 pounds), sophomore Isiah Myers (6-0, 176) and freshman Gabe Marks (6-0, 167) may be as talented as any trio that Leach had at Texas Tech.

It’s not unusual for Washington State to split out five receivers. Running the football is almost an afterthought. The Cougars rank last among Pac-12 teams in rushing with a measly 62 ground yards per game.

“We play against spread offenses almost every week,” said CU junior safety Parker Orms. “What makes theirs tough is they have really good receivers. They’ve got receivers that can go inside and outside. They run a lot of different routes.”

In addition to showing game film of Washington State’s first three games — 30-6 loss to Brigham Young, 24-20 win over Eastern Washington, 35-27 win over UNLV — CU’s Brown also has had his defense review tape of two recent victories by the Buffs over Leach-coached Texas Tech teams.

In 2006, then Colorado coach Dan Hawkins posted his first victory with the Buffs, a stunning 30-6 upset of Texas Tech in Boulder. The following year, Colorado won 31-26 in Lubbock.

Brown was Colorado’s defensive backfield coach for both of those victories.

“Coach Brown said we have the ability to be just like those CU secondaries,” Orms said. “We just have to go into the game believing we can do it, and then execute.”

Colorado coach Jon Embree said that execution must include sound tackling against an offense that features quick-strike, short passes and relies on receivers to get yards after the catch.

“When you do a good job of tackling,” Embree said, “the field shrinks, and it swings back to your favor defensively.”

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